Blogs 12 Long Island

Forward March

Norm Dvoskin

When does spring begin on Long Island? This year the moment the sun crossed directly over the equator spring started officially. This is known as the vernal equinox and it occurred at 7:44 AM on March 20^th. How would you ever know it? You can look out your window and see a robin, but you can’t look out and see an equinox. This year the arrival of spring was greeted by a dusting of snow and the next morning on March 21 the temperature was in the low 20s. That’s not the kind of weather we look forward to all winter while hanging around waiting for spring to arrive. In 1958 the first day of spring was a joke. We had a major northeaster with 16 inches of snow, 55 mph winds and high tides. Schools were closed, along with industries such as Republic Aviation and Grumman Engineering. There were around 150,000 power outages. In 1967, we had more than 14 inches of snow on the first day of spring. This produced slippery roads with numerous fender benders and major delays on the Long Island Railroad.

I’ve been living here for more than 50 years and I’ve noticed some things that are typical of spring on Long Island:

The crocuses start coming up through the potholes

The shortest distance between two points is usually under construction

You have to turn on your heat the day after you turn it off for the season

You see a topless convertible and the driver is wearing ear muffs and mittens

Gardeners throw their seed catalogs on the fire to keep warm

Flocks of accountants are sighted migrating back for the tax season

Everything begins to blossom and grow, except what you planted

Kids wear much lighter clothes when they surf the internet

You can have rain, snow and sunshine simultaneously

People start taking down their Christmas decorations

How can you tell when spring REALLY arrives on Long Island?

First it gets warm and everyone goes out and plants their garden. Then it gets cold and everything freezes. Next it gets warm again and everyone plants their garden again...and that’s spring.

SEASONS GREENINGS

Come On Down

By Norm Dvoskin

I just returned from a vacation in Delray Beach, Florida. I was there for the month of February. In my opinion, the only reason anyone would want to go to Florida other than to visit relatives, is because of the sunny, warm and comfortable winter weather. On the morning of Thursday, February 5^th, my first week, the temperature at Delray Beach dropped to 31 degrees. It was 33 in Boca Raton, Wellington and Palm Beach. People in South Florida are not used to cold weather. They usually wear down-filled parkas and mittens in the frozen food section of the supermarket. Everyone marveled at how empty the beaches were. I put on my "Nanook of the North" outfit and decided it would be a good time to head southward... to Miami, which is about 50 miles from Delray. I was disappointed as I strolled uncomfortably in the cold and wind along Calle Ocho in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. The weather warmed up quickly over the next few days, reaching the mid to upper 70s and things were back to normal.

If the chilly weather of 2009 chilled vacationers, it was nothing compared to 32 years ago. On the morning of January 19, 1977, snowflakes fell from the sky in South Florida. It resembled a giant tropical snow globe. It was the first and last time in recorded weather history that snow fell south of Fort Pierce. It was the farthest south that snow ever been seen in the continental United States. Flurries were reported in Homestead. You know your having a tough winter vacation when Miami TV weather reports start giving ski conditions. It was only a dusting but it was enough to close schools and flood the switchboard at Southern Sanitation which jokingly advertises free snow removal. In West Palm Beach, Kmart set out 10 cases of snow shovels and four sleds which had been shipped there by mistake. Residents were inscribing their names on snow-covered windshields. In one up-scale neighborhood of Coral Gables, the highway department made a snow plow by fastening a spatula to the front end of a Porsche (just kidding).

The weather warmed up in a couple of days, and my vacation was delightful. One of nice things about being in Florida in February is that when you get home in March, spring is usually just around the corner. The days are longer, the temperatures are moderating, and the crocuses are starting to pop-up. Ha!  What did I get when I returned to Long Island? Fifteen inches of snow on March 1st... Long Islands biggest snowstorm in three years. I got tired of hearing people say to me, "You came back too early."

Take My Wife, Please

By Norm Dvoskin

The cover story in Last Sunday's (January 18, 2009) LI Life Section of Newsday stated, "The newly divorced are finding relaxed attitudes and new services available to them." "Divorce is losing it’s stigma and some people are untying the knot with relish." Apparently, individuals are celebrating their new status by having catered divorce parties and hiring "The Divorce Party Planner."

To add to the theme, I’ve come up with a menu for a catered divorce.

MENU FOR A CATERED DIVORCE

Openings

Cordials on the rocks with Garnished Celery

Appetizer

Half a bitter Pear

Soup

Split Pea

Salad

Broken Hearts of Lettuce with Liquidated House Dressing

Main Course

Spicy Beef with Black-eyed Peas

Dessert

Pie Alimony, Frozen Lemon Custody or Rocky Road

Finish with dates with nuts and sour grapes

Held at the Marrynot Hotel

Exercise Caution

By Norm Dvoskin

Why are TV Meteorologists always telling people what to do? "The roads are extremely hazardous... be sure to exercise caution!" "There will be scattered showers today so keep your umbrella handy." I expect a few afternoon thunderstorms. "Keep your eye on the sky." Actually, this could be quite dangerous when driving. "It’s hot and sticky today. Make sure you drink plenty of liquids." Think about it--drinking solids could be very uncomfortable. I once tried to drink a steak and almost choked. Where does it end? Perhaps we should also provide marital advice and tips on dieting?

If I say, "It’s minus 20 degrees and the wind is 35 miles an hour" and you want to stroll outside in your underwear, that’s your business. My job is to tell people about the weather, not tell them how to run their lives. I always give the viewing public credit for making the correct weather related decision once they’ve heard the forecast. They don’t need advice from a meteorologist. Most of us aren’t that smart.

Telling people what to do may also get me into trouble. Let’s say, it’s a miserable Saturday night, it’s cold and nasty and the roads are slippery. I could say something like, "Stay home tonight, it’s dangerous just being outdoors." The viewer now cancels his restaurant reservation and stays home to watch a TV movie. The owner of the establishment loses money, has to lay off his staff and possibly close his doors. Could I be sued?

Suppose July 4^th is near and I predict a miserable weekend. I tell people that "they’re better off if they stay home and read a book or go shopping." Based on my suggestion, the viewers now change their plans to go to the East End. Would I get a lawyer’s letter from Gurney’s? Suppose my forecast was incorrect, (it’s hard to believe this could happen). Now both sides would be mad at me.

My advice to meteorologists: Stick to the weather.

Expect The Unexpected

Norm Dvoskin

We just passed the 22^nd anniversary of the debut of News 12 Long Island. Over the years, I can recall two occasions when the lights in the studio went out completely while I was doing the weather and I was left speaking in total darkness. When you’re in front of a TV camera, unexpected and surprising things may happen. Sometimes they’re embarrassing and they may even be quite funny. Below are a few of the most amusing incidents I can remember during all these years . Not all of them involve me.

You remember Roberto Tirado, weatherman during the early days of News 12? We were doing a story at Stony Brook University about students who were having a grand time sailing their home made, model boats on a pond on campus. Roberto and Scott Feldman were in the studio sitting at the desk. When the story ended, Roberto said, "I would love to go back to college but I don’t know what I would major in." Scott replied on-air, "How about meteorology?

Most people are aware that when TV weather people give their presentation, there’s a blank, colored (green or blue) wall behind us. The illusion of a graphic or map is created by sophisticated electronics. The weathercaster holds a small clicker, much like a garage door opener to sequence the computerized pictures. When the button is pressed, the graphic changes. One night, in front of the camera, Bill Korbel kept pressing the button on his clicker and nothing was happening. The maps were stuck and wouldn’t change. He was frustrated and he looked down at the device in his hand. With a humble look on his face he realized he was holding his car remote.

Patti Ann Browne was the News Anchor in the studio and Scott Feldman was out in the field. He was covering a breaking story and telling the viewers about the Great Neck School District's plan to begin giving high school students condoms. Scott sent it back to the studio and Patti Ann asked, "Scott, when are the students going to start using these condoms?"

It was a cold, clear Thanksgiving morning and I was sent out to a turkey farm in Huntington to report on the weather. While I was speaking on-air, the camera panned down revealing two tiny kittens scurrying around at my feet. The camera went back to me and as I was saying, "The temperature is 22 degrees, the sky is clear... blah, blah blah." One of the kittens decides to climb up my pants leg under my 3/4 length coat. This creature climbed up past my waist. I reached inside my coat, pulled it out by the neck, held it up to the camera and said, "and now for the furcast."

Happy Holidays!

Meteorology Is My Life

Norm Dvoskin

The public seems to be fascinated by weather. Someone will often come up to me and say, "When I was growing up, I always wanted to become a meteorologist. I wish I had your job." The people who say this to me are often doctors, dentists, lawyers and the like who make at least ten times what I earn and would never trade places with me. They think being a meteorologist is a glamorous profession: the wild parties, being surrounded by beautiful women, trips to exotic places. When is this all going to happen? This impression is probably the result of blockbuster weather movies like "Twister," "The Perfect Storm" and "Gone With the Wind." (just kidding about the last one.) Most professional meteorologists are not on television. They're dedicated scientists who usually sit at a desk in a cubicle and work for the government, a university or some scientific industry. It can be very tedious.

I was born to be a meteorologist and weather forecasting is in my blood. My great, great grandfather Dewey Dvoskin predicted that Custer would beat the Indians and my father Sunny predicted that "Poland would win World War II." As an infant, the first words out of my mouth were "possibly, probably and unusual." At News 12 Long Island, I've kept the family tradition alive. My forecasts are never wrong. It's the weather that's wrong.

Being a meteorologist is a rewarding profession and the best place to start is by going to school. It's a science and it involves mathematics, physics, statistics and physiography. If you're interested in broadcasting, it's very important to learn how to speak with your fingers crossed. I tell kids to stay in school and get a degree. When they grow up they can be just like those meteorologists they see on TV who stand outside on the barrier beaches during a category 4 hurricane.

Am I A Meteorologist?

Norm Dvoskin

Very often I'm asked, "Are you a meteorologist?" I assume they mean, "Are you a meteorologist or a weatherman?" I'm not sure what the difference is. I looked up weatherman in the dictionary and it said, "A person who forecasts or reports weather conditions." I do that, so I guess I'm a weatherman. Then I looked up meteorologist. There are many variations but one that seems to be most suitable is, "A person who is professionally employed in the study or practice of dealing with the phenomena of the atmosphere. It often refers to individuals who have a degree in meteorology. I qualify. So I guess I'm a weatherman and a meteorologist.

These terms should not be confused with other similarly sounding words.

Meterologist: Someone who works for LIPA and reads meters..or perhaps a taxi driver.

Meatyurologist: A chubby doctor.

Whetherman: A person (man) who can look into girls eyes and tell whether? (This one is really old.)

When I tell someone that I'm a meteorologist, they sometimes ask, "Then why don't you forecast meteors?" This question seems logical and stems from confusion about the word meteorology.

The word meteorology is derived from the Greek word meteoron, which refers to any phenomenon in the sky. Astronomy, including the study of geometeors or "shooting stars" later became a separate discipline. The science of meteorology was restricted eventually to the atmosphere. Various weather phenomena are still referred to as "meteors." Liquid or frozen water...rain, snow, sleet, clouds and fog are hydrometeors. Dry particles...sand, dust and smoke are lithometeors. Optical phenomena such as halos, rainbows and mirages are termed photometeors. Lightning and Saint Elmo's fire are electrometeors.

Whether you call yourself a "meteorologist" or a "weatherman" and you work on television, it's important to have the "American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval." If I didn't have it and someone came up to me and asked, "Hot enough for you?" I'd  have to say," I can't comment."

Disaster Shirts

Norm Dvoskin

It always amazes me that one day after the occurrence of a major natural disaster you can go on line and order a t-shirt that marks the event. You can buy a shirt that reads, "TSUNAMI SURVIVOR," or even one with, "HURRICANE KATRINA--I WAS THERE."

I remember working with meteorologist Joe Rao during the vicious blizzard of March 14-15th, 1993 here at News 12 Long Island. During that severe coastal storm, 8 to 12 inches of snow fell on Long Island followed by heavy rain which turned to ice. Winds were gusting over 90 miles an hour. The two of us were supporting each other. While one of us was on-air, the other was on the phone collecting observers data. There were more than 200 deaths attributed to that storm as it made its way up the East Coast. The next day I went on line and bought two shirts showing a drawing of two laced-up boots sitting on a mound of snow. Underneath, the caption read, "The Blizzard of 1993,"

Another eventful storm on January 22-23, 2005 was covered live by me, Rich Hoffman and Bill Korbel. This blizzard dropped up to 20 inches of snow across Long Island. Visibility was down to near zero and wind gusts exceeded 75 mile per hour. The next day I bought three t-shirts saying, "I Survived The Blizzard of 2005." The shirt has a cartoon of a hand extended up, holding a shovel sticking out of a deep snow drift.

The "disaster t-shirt" can make a great gift. After a hurricane damaged my friend's condo at Boynton Beach, Florida, in October, 2005, I sent him a shirt similar to the one shown below. The only difference is the shirt I bought read, "I Was BL_ _ N by Wilma."

Love Means Nothing

Norm Dvoskin

The sport of tennis is very popular on Long Island and it’s one of my favorite activities. If you look at Newsday’s Annual FUN BOOK you’ll find more than 50 tennis clubs listed. In addition to these, there are hundreds of tennis facilities in local parks and schools where you can play for free.

Tennis is great fun, good exercise and it’s a sport you can play all your life. You see people in their 80s on the local courts as well as little kids who are hardly bigger than their racquets.

Why is tennis popular? (1) It’s inexpensive. All you need is a racquet, tennis balls and sneakers. It’s also lot cheaper than playing polo. You don’t have to put up with the expense of buying and maintaining a horse. Of course you can’t put a horse in the trunk of your car.

(2) Playing tennis is good for the economy. It provides income for orthopedists and people who make and sell sports equipment, liniment and pain killers.

(3) It gives you the chance to let-off-steam. "My opponent made bad line-calls," "He didn’t hit the ball hard enough," "It was too windy,"...

Tennis looks easy but it’s a difficult sport to master. Before you start playing you should find out if you’ll really like the game. It’s important to learn the fundamentals. Some of the basics are: where to go for a beer after a match, picking the right tennis outfits so you look great on the court and how to put the blame on your partner when playing doubles.

Tennis is an international sport and everywhere you travel, you can always find courts and people to play with. There’s a strict set of rules that are the same throughout the globe. Beginners should acquaint themselves with these rules and memorize them. What’s even better, get yourself a lawyer to look them over. The rules are full of loopholes, and ambiguity which can be used to your advantage in a close match.

People who watch tennis on TV are baffled by the fact that nothing ever seems to happen yet the score keeps changing. That’s precisely the principle of tennis scoring. Often, when nothing happens one player gets 15. Sometimes it gets to be 15 all, but occasionally it’s 30 -15. In other word when nothing happens, it counts as 15 except when it’s 40-30, then it counts as 10. Every once in a while you get to deuce and nobody knows what that means. Of course there’s love. Tennis is the only activity in the world where love means absolutely nothing. One of the reasons I starting playing tennis is because I thought 40-love was an orgy. (Just kidding)

One of the most difficult challenges in tennis is to learn how to serve. It doesn’t come easy. It takes years of steady practice to be able to serve like a pro. Beginners usually have the most trouble. After a match they keep forgetting which wine goes with meat and which one to serve with fish...or whether to serve from the right and take the dishes away form the left or vice versa.

A lot is made about sportsmanship in tennis. You see people at tennis clubs, community courts and even at the professional level, ranting, arguing, cursing, throwing their racquets and generally misbehaving. The reason for this is that sportsmanship is not important in tennis. It’s extremely important in sports like football, basketball and hockey where the players weigh over 250 pounds and are 6 foot 6. So if you start anything you could get yourself killed. Everyone knows tennis is played mostly by snobs, nerds and sissies. Anyone who comes out in all white clothes and a sweater tied around his neck can’t be that tough. So you can get away with a lot of stuff. Thus there’s no need for sportsmanship. It’s hard enough trying to hit the ball over the net without having to worry about playing like a gentleman.

I sincerely hope that in this short blog I’ve acquainted you with the ins-and-outs of tennis. So if you’re a swinger, get your racquet, your shorts, sneakers and tranquilizers and get going.

Long Island High

By Norm Dvoskin

The closest thing to climbing a mountain on Long Island is to journey to Jaynes Hill in Western Suffolk County. It is recognized officially as the Island's highest point.  The summit is 400.5 feet above sea level and is located in West Hills County Park in The Town of Huntington. It's no Mount Everest, but to get to the top, you don't need Sherpa guides, bulky tanks of oxygen and expensive mountain climbing paraphernalia. All you need is a car and maybe walking shoes.

The second highest point on Long Island is Harbor Hill at 380 feet in the Village of Roslyn in Nassau County. It is commonly believed by many Long Islanders that Bald Hill in Farmingville is our highest point. It's a mere 295 feet above sea level and even though I've never been there, I understand you can get to the top without even getting out of your car.

The easiest way to reach Jaynes Hill is to drive to the dead end of Reservoir Road which is just west of Route 110, near the Walt Whitman Mall and the historic home of the poet Walt Whitman. Park your car and walk uphill on a wide dirt path through a grassy area on your left. You'll see a South Huntington Water District water tank on your on your right. Proceed until you see a large boulder and park benches straight ahead. This is the summit of Jaynes Hill. This walk takes about two to three minutes. The boulder, shown below, is about five feet high and is covered with graffiti. In the 1890's Walt Whitman called the view from Jaynes Hill "splendid." At one time you could see both Great South Bay and Long Island Sound from this site. Now trees on the surrounding hills obscure much of the far off view. In the winter, you can still see the South Shore through the bare branches. A plaque is attached to one side of the boulder with the poem PAUMANOCK  from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

A Coast and Geodetic Survey marker once sat flush on the ground next to the boulder.  It stated the site's exact latitude, longitude and altitude. I remember seeing it many years ago but it has since been vandalized. 

Another way to get to Jaynes Hill is by hiking through West Hills  Park from the south. To get to the scenic trail, go to the picnic area of West Hills County Park. It's located on Sweet Hollow Road in Melville, just north of Old Country Road and just past the Northern State Parkway underpass. Park your car in the lot and walk to the split rail fence just south of the picnic tables. You'll see a path that takes you into the woods. Take this path and make a left onto the horse trail which heads to the north and to Jaynes Hill. The straight line distance to the top is slightly more than one mile but it's an uphill and winding trail.

Jaynes Hill is no Mount Everest, but if you have a few hours, you can hike to the highest point on Long Island with no symptoms of frostbite, hallucinations because of hydration and I guarantee, you won't have to worry about avalanches.

Eye On the Storm

Norm Dvoskin

This year is the 70^th anniversary of The Great Storm that hit Long Island. On September 21, 1938, the eye of a category three hurricane made landfall somewhere near Patchogue at about 3:30 in the afternoon. In terms of deaths and destruction it was the greatest natural disaster ever to hit Long Island. Fifty fatalities were attributed to this storm and hundreds of homes on the barrier beaches were washed away. At Westhampton Beach, for example, there were 179 homes before the storm. The hurricane of ‘38 washed away 150 of these. Of those that remained, none could ever be used again. The storm is known as the "Long Island Express" because of it’s 60 mph speed as it moved up the coast from the Carolinas. It’s also termed The Great New England Hurricane because after it crossed the Sound, it moved into New England and killed more than 600 people.

To commemorate this event, The Long Island Museum at Stony Brook has been hosting a major exhibition that began on June 21 and will end October 26, 2008. The exhibition is called, "Eye on the Storm: Long Island’s Dangerous Coast." The exhibit includes artifacts saved from the storm, photographs, rare film footage and video interviews with some survivors of the storm. As part of this exhibit, I was invited to be a host and guest speaker on Sunday October 5. My presentation is scheduled for 2 P.M.

I will talk about the vulnerability of Long Island to major hurricanes and northeasters, the history of past storms and my personal experiences as a News 12 Long Island meteorologist dealing with hazardous weather. The major focus of my talk will be about the 1938 hurricane and its impact on Long Island and the consequences of a similar storm re-occurring.

I'm A Fall Guy

Norm Dvoskin

As far as I’m concerned, autumn is the best time of the year on Long Island. Summer’s too hot and buggy, with long traffic jams headed to the beach. Heat triggers aggression. All the major riots in this country have occurred in the summer. Crime statistics show that robberies, rapes, assaults and murders increase when the weather turns hot. Winter’s too cold, dark and snowy. January is like a month of Mondays and the only good thing about February is that it only hurts for a little while. Spring is usually very disappointing. It’s often much too chilly and damp. Every year we can hardly wait for spring. We go outside and look at the sky, the trees and check the temperature. Nice spring weather, when it finally arrives, usually lasts for about a week. April showers bring may Flowers? They also bring flooded basements and kids cooped up in the house for hours. But Autumn is just right with long periods of crisp, dry weather and lots of color. I don’t know why they don’t have a Fall Olympics?

People tend to ignore autumn. It needs a publicity agent. Writers ignore it and poets don’t write poems about it. Just to show you what I mean, I went to the “Oxford Dictionary of Quotations” and summer has 85 mentions. For example, “Summer time and the livin’ is easy.” It should be, summer time and the livin’ is sweaty. Winter is there with 58 quotes..."Now is the winter of our discontent"...”If winter comes can spring be far behind?” Spring has a mind boggling 91 such as, “The flowers that bloom in it, tra la” and “a young man’s fancy turns to you know what.” And autumn has a grand total of eleven measly mentions and none of these are even worth talking about.

Another reason Autumn is so terrific is that it’s the season that leads to romance. If you took a poll you’d find that more lasting relationships start in the fall. Why? Because the chill in the air gives rise to people wearing sweaters and sweaters have that remarkable capacity to add or subtract just what is required to compensate for those tiny flaws in our bodies. Aside from looking good, sweaters give the appearance of wanting to be hugged. The next thing you know romance follows.

In winter people wear too much clothes. Unless you’re an Eskimo, how can have desire for someone who looks like Nanook of the North?

In the summer the emphasis is on skin and the question people ask is “Will she or won’t she?” “Yes or No?” This leads to summer romances which we know are usually very short.

Everyone Talks About The Weatherman

By Norm Dvoskin
Everyone talks about the weatherman, but no one does anything about him. No! That’s not right. It’s "Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it." This line, is usually attributed to Mark Twain....sometimes even to the late comedian-philosopher Will Rogers. Actually it was said originally by Charles Dudley Warner, Connecticut newspaperman, who was an associate of Mark Twain. Warner also said, "Politics make strange bedfellows." He seldom gets credit for that one either.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. Twain’s most noted novels are The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is also known for his quotations. Many of which have been about the weather:

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive, but it is lightning that does the work."

"Cold! If the thermometer had been an inch longer we’d all have frozen to death."

"Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get."

"If you don’t like the weather in New England just wait a few minutes."

I have a few of my own weather sayings that I’ll pass along to the readers of this blog:

The best place to stand in a hurricane is in a state that is not having one.

There’s no such thing as bad weather..just inappropriate clothing.

You know you’re not a kid any more when you’re obsessed by your thermostat.

Weather forecasts are seldom wrong.  It's the weather that's wrong. 

I know I’m no Mark Twain, but I’ll bet he couldn’t tell you the differences between sleet, freezing rain and hail.

Mark Twain 1835-1910

A Case of Summer Flew

By Norm Dvoskin

Summer Holidays are weird. We usually spend Independence Day socializing with a lot of people and Labor Day not working. Celebrating Labor Day by not working is like celebrating Arbor Day by paving your backyard.

I mentioned to a friend that Labor Day comes early this year. "It’s on Monday, September 1^st." He said, "How could that be? Isn’t Labor Day always the first Monday after the first Tuesday?" I think he was a little mixed up. Of course he was thinking Election Day which is in November and is always the first Tuesday after the first Monday. Is all this confusing? Anyhow, Labor Day is a Federal Holiday and has been celebrated on the first Monday of September since the 1880s. Our government created these three day weekends because they couldn’t cram all the rotten weather into just two days.

The strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States occurred on Labor Day September 2^nd 1935. This unnamed storm hit the Florida Keys with estimated winds of 200 miles per hour. It was the first of three category 5 hurricanes that struck this country in the 20^th century. We’ve never had a hurricane hit Long Island on Labor Day, but in 1996, hurricane Edouard moved off just to our East with winds of 100 mph. High tides and surf caused coastal flooding and the beaches were closed to swimmers during the Labor Day Weekend. On Labor Day September 7, 1998, an F2 tornado hit Lynbrook with strong winds, heavy rain and hail. There were 170,000 power outages and Lynbrook was declared "In a state of Emergency."

Traditionally Labor Day is considered by most Americans to be the unofficial end of summer. The official end of summer, this year is September 22^nd while the financial end of summer, for me, was around the middle of August 9, (just kidding).

Labor Day is a sad time. The days are getting shorter, people return from vacation and the kids are headed back to school. For me it’s a special time of year, I usually get rid of all my, "How hot was it" jokes. Everything must go.

Many Long Islanders enjoy Labor Day with a picnic or a barbecue. My favorite thing is to drive to the mall and watch them put up Christmas decorations.

HURRICANE BOB

By Norm Dvoskin

The first thing people ask after a hurricane is, "If a tree falls in your backyard and there’s nobody there to hear it, who’s responsible for getting rid of it?"

On Monday August 19, 1991, the eye of hurricane Bob passed over Montauk with winds of over 100 mph and more than seven inches of rain. On the East End after the storm, downed trees and power lines lay across roads and driveways, "tossed together like so much salad," (quoted from The New York Times of Wednesday August 21, 1991). I drove to East Hampton a few days after the storm and it was a mess. Driving was difficult along Montauk Highway because of the abundance of fallen trees, branches and other debris scattered across the roads. On Western Long Island, most people had no idea of the extent of the damage.

This hurricane has special significance. It’s the only full blown hurricane to strike Long Island covered by News 12. We started broadcasting December 1986. Hurricane Gloria struck us in September 1985 before our inception. Since Bob, there have been numerous near misses, remnants of once powerful tropical storms and hurricanes, but no fully developed storms have hit us.

Sunday night and early on Monday the 19^th, before the storm reached us, I was in the news room, doing live up-dates, describing the progress of the storm as it worked its way up the East Coast. Here’s how it worked. Every hour, on-the-hour, I had to fill one minute and 49 seconds of time. I would say something like, "Hurricane Bob is moving up the coast with winds of 120 miles an hour... blah, blah, blah." The next hour I said, "Hurricane Bob is moving up the coast with winds of 120 miles per hour ..yadda, yadda, yadda." I gave the storms intensity, speed and location while a satellite video of the storm played on screen. I did this until 4 A.M. Monday, until I was relieved by meteorologist Joe Cioffi. I was sitting on a chair looking into a camera wearing an ear piece, getting time cues. The only other person in the news room was Kim the assignment editor. About one minute before one of the segments she yelled out, "There’s important news. You have to read this!" She handed me a sheet of paper just off the wire. I proceeded to read, "There’s a coup taking place in the Soviet Union. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was under house arrest while he was vacationing in the Crimea. Tanks and other military vehicles were patrolling the streets of the Capital and martial law was declared"......and by the way, Hurricane Bob is moving up the coast with winds of 120 miles an hour..yakity, yakity, yak". News 12 was probably the first station in the country to provide the breaking news of this event.

Hurricane Bob could have been a lot worse. If the center of the storm hit Long Island about 20 to 50 miles further west it would have been a major disaster. We would likely have had more destruction than the legendary hurricane of 1938.

One more aside--I’ve also worked the nights prior to Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, which impacted Florida and Louisiana respectively. So if you see me on TV during August and September, you’d better duck.

There's Nothing To Fear But Atmos-fear

By Norm Dvoskin

Relatively speaking, we have a relatively tranquil climate. We get occasional northeasters, blizzards and even tornadoes. Some of these have caused significant damage and disruption, but most have been inconveniences rather than life threatening events. In terms of death and devastation, hurricanes have been and should be a major concern of all Long Islanders.

The hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin begins June 1^st and ends November 30^th. It’s the only time of year you can get a ticket for going more than 75 miles per hour and never leave your house. (just kidding)

Long Island has a long history of destructive hurricanes. However, in modern times, no full blown hurricane has made a direct hit on Long Island before the first week of August and after the middle of October . Things start to heat up around here in August as we approach the peak time which is around the middle of September.

The month of August has featured three significant hurricanes since the beginning of the 20^th century. Hurricane Carol traversed Long Island on a line from Westhampton to Cutchogue on August 31, 1954 with winds of 80 mph and gusts to 120 mph. High tides combined with heavy rain caused extensive coastal flooding. Communities on the North and South shores had to be evacuated. Thousands of trees were uprooted resulting in 275,000 power outages.

Hurricane Belle made landfall near Jones Beach just before midnight on August 9, 1976 with winds of 90 mph. It moved directly north through East Meadow, Westbury and entered Long Island Sound near Bayville. Once packing 120 mph winds, it lost it’s energy in the relatively cool waters just south of Long Island. Thus damage was much less than was expected.  I was living in Plainview at the time and on the evening of the 9^th the gusty winds pushed a small tree in my backyard over at about a 30 degree angle to the ground. I figured I’d go out the next morning to tie it. I went out early on the 10^th and the shift in wind as the storm passed overnight, blew the tree back into an upright position.

On August 19, 1991, the eye of Hurricane Bob moved directly over Montauk Point with winds of 101 mph. The storm felled trees and power lines, resulting in 380,000 power outages. More than 7 inches of rain was reported in Bridgehampton. Two deaths were attributed to this storm. Hurricane Bob was the only fully developed hurricane to hit Long Island covered by News 12 Long Island. We began broadcasting in December 1986.

Much Ado About Dew Point

Norm Dvoskin

In June this year, we had an extreme heat wave on Long Island with four straight days of temperatures close to 100 degrees and very high humidity. It got so bad, News 12 Long Island reporters were running dangerously low on people to ask, "How do you beat the heat?"

When you feel miserable during the Summer months, people will often remind you," It’s not the heat but the humidity." I hate these people. However, in reality, it’s the heat AND the humidity that make you miserable.

To solve the problem of describing the effects of heat and humidity on human comfort, meteorologists have resorted to various indices to quantify human comfort into a single number.

The most traditional way of reporting moisture in the air is to state the relative humidity. The problem with relative humidity is that it doesn’t tell us how we feel. It’s a measure of how much water vapor is in the air as a percentage of the maximum amount the air can hold at a given temperature.

There’s the temperature-humidity index (THI), which was presented to the public in 1976. It was abandoned because people found it confusing.

The heat index, developed in 1979 and released in 1984, is often used today. It gives you the "apparent temperature." For example, "It’s 92 degrees but if you factor in the humidity, it feels like 99." This is less than satisfactory as it doesn’t describe the effects of heat and humidity on how you feel. For example, when it’s very hot and dry (high apparent temperature) many people feel comfortable. The major benefit of using the apparent temperature is, with an exceptionally high value, it gets people’s attention.

Most meteorologists will tell you, "In Summer, the best measure for describing the moisture in the air and it’s effects on comfort is the dew point. The dew point is the temperature to which the air must be cooled at constant pressure, for water vapor to condense into liquid water. It can be converted directly into how much moisture is in the air. Of course, the only people who may want to know this are engineers and meteorologists. I talk about dew point on TV only when it is extreme, that is, when it’s under 10 in winter and over 70 in Summer. The scale below, describes in general, how the air feels as a function of dew point.

DEW POINT	PERCEPTION
52 & lower	COMFORTABLE
53-56	SLIGHTLY NOTICEABLE
57-59	QUITE NOTICEABLE
60-63	STICKY
64-69	UNCOMFORTABLE
70 +	INTOLERABLE

The highest summer dew points in the USA,(80 and above), occur mostly near the Gulf of Mexico and in portions of the upper Mississippi Valley.  Whenever dew points rise above 75 degrees, I usually issue a "severe hug warning."  This means that if you hug someone, there's a 60% chance you'll stick together permanently. 

What's In A Name?

By Norm Dvoskin   

According to LIPA, there are 2 cities, 13 towns, 64 villages and 196 hamlets (unincorporated areas) in the 2 counties that make up Long Island.  Hamlets are also usually subdivided into neighborhoods.  In addition there are 2 Indian Reservations.  That's a total of 295 communities.   

When someone asks you where you live, do you tell them the town, village, hamlet, neighborhood?  To add to the confusion, most of the towns share the same name with villages. For example, the Village of East Hampton and the Town of East Hampton.  Hempstead and the Village of Hempstead.  This can be extremely confusing to visitors, residents and especially to people like me who work in television.  Not only do I have to know where these places are, but I must to be able to spell and pronounce them correctly. Have you ever heard of Fireplace, Barley, Angle Sea, Laughing Waters, Rampasture and Dinah Shores?  With the exception of Dinah Shores (I made that one up), I've seen these posted on recent maps of Long Island. 

I once put Fireplace on a forecast map and I received a call from a viewer telling me there was no such location.  Not true.  It's on the South Fork just off Gardiners Bay and next to the hamlet of Gerard Park.    If you ask someone if they know where Quiogue is,  most people say, "Don't  you mean Quogue?  On June 28, I posted Quiogue on a map of Long Island.  The next day I read this e mail:

"I recently heard Norm Dvoskin pronounce Quiogue with a long e sound.  The correct pronunciation is with a long i sound.  I have lived in this area for 52 years and my family has been here for 130 years.  This is the way that I have heard it pronounced by my family and other locals for 50 years.  The only people that say Q"ee"ouge are new comers.   Sadly, the longer we hear it pronounced incorrectly, the more likely it becomes that newcomers will believe it is the correct pronunciation. As a trusted news source you certainly understand and appreciate the historic value and importance of maintaining the correct pronunciation of local vernacular." Thank you Sincerely David Wilcox Westhampton, NY

I apologized to Mr. Wilcox and let him know I would place Quiogue on a map again and pronounce it correctly.   

NEWS 12 VERSUS GRUMMAN

By Norm Dvoskin

I started at News 12 Long Island at it's inception in December, 1986.  After a few days on the job I said to myself, "The people here are smart, hard working, creative and attractive.  I'M GOING TO GET FIRED!" 

Before News 12 it was the Grumman Aerospace Corporation in Bethpage. I worked in the Advanced Systems Department and was there for 30 years.  You never heard anyone swear.  Grumman people were conservative, laid back, and very well educated.  The professional staff there had so many degrees they could start their own heat wave.  Grumman was the largest Company on Long Island and at one time had over 30,000 employees. 

If you didn't work in the shop, you wore a shirt and tie.  Most people had jackets but didn't wear them unless they had to go to a meeting.  At Grumman, I started work at 8 A.M. and left at 4:30 P.M., Monday through Friday.  It almost never varied.  If you were assigned to a government sponsored project, it could last forever.  You were encouraged to initiate your own projects, which hopefully could result in future business for the company.  The only times I had to really work furiously was when I was on an RFP (contract proposal).  RFPs are the "bread and butter" of the aerospace industry and there were occasions when I'd be required to work 18 hours a day, seven days a week, for periods of up to three or four weeks. 

I had an office in a large area (called "the black hole") located on the second floor, in the interior of a large brick building in Bethpage.  There were no windows.  Security was extremely tight and every time anyone entered this area they were screened by a guard with a gun(no bullets).  My office had a desk, book case, 2 chairs, a locked filing cabinet and a telephone.  The cabinet contained highly sensitive secret and top secret information, like the batting averages of our intramural softball team. We started getting computers in the 80s, but no one had their own computer.  There was a common area where the computers were located.

At News 12, I share an office with Bill Korbel and Rich Hoffman.  I almost never see them because we work different shifts.  This office is about 14 feet by 10 feet and is never locked.  It has a desk, two chairs, two filing cabinets, two book cases, two televisions, two refrigerators, a personal computer, a telephone with a lot of buttons that I don't know how to work, DVR, CD, DVD, VHS players and recorders and a weather radio.  The only thing missing is a bed.  There are so many remotes lying around that you need a remote to work all the other remotes.  The best thing about this office is that it has a large, sophisticated and amazing meteorological observing system that I use frequently to make accurate weather forecasts.  It's called a window. 

Fashion is not an issue at News 12.  People are neat and wear comfortable clothes.  If you're on-air, management expects you to be well groomed and have a professional look.  However, some of the on-air anchors often wear shorts or jeans when they're sitting behind the desk delivering the news. It's quite a treat seeing Drew Scott walk into the studio wearing a spiffy jacket, dress shirt, tie and Bermuda shorts. I can't do that because my body is fully exposed standing in front of the map.  Besides you wouldn't want to look at my knobby knees.

At News 12 there's seldom any down time.  Even if you're on a break, you have to be aware of what's going on and  be prepared and ready to respond to breaking news and extreme weather at any time.  No two days are the same.  There's a new research project every day I walk in the door.  People want to know, "What's the forecast?"  However, there is one long-term project that I've been working on for years--it's how to get the weather to match my forecasts.

LONG YES..BUT ISLAND NO

By Norm Dvoskin

Long Island is an odd place.  If you want to go to the East River, you have to travel west.  If you live in the hamlet of East Hills and you want to go to West Hills you must head east.  There's an East Marion on the North Fork but there's no Marion.  On the South Fork we have East Hampton, Westhampton, Southampton, Hampton Bays, Hampton Park and even Bridgehampton.  However there's no place called Hampton. 

While Long Island may be long, (around 118 miles from Manhattan to Montauk), it's NOT an island.. legally that is.  This is based on a ruling in February 1985 by the Supreme Court of the United States of America.  Our Court ruled by a 9 to 0 vote that Long Island is a peninsula, ie. an extension of New York's coastline.  It became an issue back in the 80s, when the U.S. Justice Department said, "if Long Island is an island, international law makes Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound part of the high seas and subject to federal jurisdiction.  However, if Long Island is an extension of the mainland, New York and Rhode Island (also not an Island) have jurisdiction and can control who can enter and how they can use the Sound.  Long Island is a winner in this case.  It gained control of 172 square miles of navigable waters as well as claim to additional natural resources.

The Supreme Court took the view that the East River was made navigable by the Army corps of Engineers in the 19th century.  Thus the East River was essentially "man-made."  It is an integral part of New York Harbor because of it's proximity to New York City and that it's connected to it by bridges and tunnels.

That's nonsense, according to Oceanographer  R. Lawrence Swanson, associate dean at Stony Brook University.  He stated that the East River which separates Long Island from the Bronx and Manhattan "is a tidal strait.  In consequence of that, we're an offshore island."  He's obviously correct.  Long Island is an island, geographically speaking.  You can't visit it without crossing water.  You can ask all our commuters who who have to pay tolls for using the bridges and tunnels. 

In spite of the Supreme Court ruling, the decision has had no effect on the day-to-day business of Long Islanders. The Islanders hockey franchise did not change their name to the LI Peninsularites...or whatever people who dwell on a peninsula are called.  We'll always have the Long Island Ducks, the Long Island Game Farm, Long Island Iced Tea and the LIRR.  Would the longest parking lot in the world become the Peninsula Expressway?  Never!

With all respect to our Supreme Court, I looked up "peninsula" in the dictionary.  It said, it's a land area completely surrounded by water except for a narrow strip of land connecting it to the mainland.  That certainly doesn't describe the place where I live.